“I think I’d better go to my room,” Vicki said, and excused herself.
Upstairs in her room she did some rapid figuring. Yesterday afternoon she had guardedly telephoned Dorn’s office in New York, giving her name as Mrs. Heath and then keeping silent. Today Dorn had taken the fastest plane he could board to San Francisco. His action could mean only one thing:
His suspicions were aroused by her telephone call. He probably telephoned his mother right back, learned she had not just called him—and learned about Vicki Barr’s surprise visit to the hidden house the night before. Mrs. Heath would have told him how Vicki Barr struck up a sympathetic acquaintance with Lucy. The woman had been disturbed about that; Dorn would be disturbed, too. Further, Mrs. Heath had probably told him that Vicki Barr had flown back to San Francisco earlier on the day of the faked telephone call.
So Dorn knew now that Vicki Barr was checking up on him and Mrs. Heath. He was certain enough of it to take the first plane to San Francisco, to come here and circumvent her. This was what Vicki had feared, and it had come true.
“What will Dorn do next?” Vicki wondered. “Steady, now. I mustn’t panic. Well, he’ll go to Pine Top, and take Mrs. Heath and Lucy out of there. Take them some place where I can’t find them again. This time Lucy will really disappear. And then Thurman Dorn will deal with me.”
She shivered. “Stop it,” she scolded herself. “I must try to think clearly.”
How soon, how fast, could Dorn reach Pine Top? The city was still wrapped in fog; so were its outlying highways, the radio reported. That meant Dorn could not fly or drive to Pine Top today, not with night closing in. He’d probably start out for Pine Top first thing tomorrow morning, weather permitting—just as she herself planned to do.
“Suppose I encounter Dorn on the highway while I’m driving to Pine Top?” She would have to disguise herself a little, and drive a closed car. “Or suppose he goes to Pine Top in a private plane—he’d arrive before I do. Will that ruin Lucy’s getaway, our getaway?”
At least she had one small advantage. She already had a car reserved. Dorn would encounter some delay in renting a car, or renting a private plane and the services of a pilot, since these were much in demand and often sold out in advance. Probably he would be able to hunt around and rent something, but it would take him extra time. Time!
When she went to bed, Vicki noticed that the fog had turned into a driving rain.